NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 34

Perspectives
downpour and you can't see through
the windshield, suddenly you're focusing
on everything; both of your hands
are on the steering wheel, and you're
paying close attention. You've switched
to System 2 thinking where you're not
on autopilot anymore. System 1 thinking
was great back on the African Savannah
when everything was out to kill you. It
made sense to make assumptions and
have gut instincts and react quickly.
System 1 can also be great for firefighters.
If you're in a fire and you feel
like the floor is going to give out and
you have that gut feeling and you get
out-that's System 1. However, it's not so
great when we're dealing with people.
Why is System 1 thinking bad for
interacting with people?
Firefighters are in System 1 a lot
because it kicks in when we're tired,
when we're hungry, when we're
stressed, when we're overwhelmed-
pretty much everything firefighters
experience during a shift. When we're
experiencing these types of demands,
our brains are constantly trying to
conserve energy and take shortcuts.
This is when we're most often
slipping into these biases, prejudging
people, and focusing on our differences
and on the negatives. We're not operating
with empathy or understanding.
This can be most detrimental when we
are interacting with people who are
least like us and we are prone to the
affinity bias, in-group and out-group
bias, and it can cause us to talk down
to and listen less to these groups or
ignore them entirely without even
intending to. This can translate into
less effective interactions with the
community and even weaken the feelings
of belonging and inclusion within
our departments.
What's an example of how these
biases negatively impact community
risk reduction and fire
prevention work.
I've heard firefighters make disparaging
remarks about residents in an area where
they respond to a lot of EMS calls and
where they often go to carry out CRR
details. A lot of times, people who live
in these neighborhoods are underrepresented
groups with lower socio-economic
status, mental health struggles, and
substance-abuse issues. As you know,
these are the types of communities
that need our help more than anyone,
because they're more likely to be victims
of fire and serious medical issues. If our
firefighters prejudge these communities,
they're not likely to interact with them in
a meaningful way, or they may even
avoid the interactions. These kinds of
judgments can come from the fundamental
attribution error bias where we see
the flaws in others as character faults.
Explain the fundamental
attribution error.
That's a really big one for us and is something
that most people will recognize in
themselves. Say you're in a rush, or you're
tired, and you make a stupid decision and
cut someone off in traffic. You probably
feel bad about it, but you know that you
are a good driver, you're a good person,
and this is a one-off because you are
having a bad day or whatever. Well, the
other person in the car you cut off is probably
looking at you saying, " That person is
an idiot! They shouldn't be on the road! "
And we make those quick assumptions
about strangers all the time. We don't see
a moral failing in ourselves when we do
something wrong, but we immediately
attribute something that somebody else
does wrong to a flaw in their character.
What other types of biases have
an impact on CRR?
Firefighters also sometimes have what's
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2024

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